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Same-sex marriages

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U.S. Federal & state "defense
of marriage acts" (DOMA) &
constitutional amendments

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Background:

Starting in the 1990s, lawsuits were initiated in an attempt to have same-sex relationships recognized in Hawaii, VermontAlaska, and other states. Subsequently, various court decisions and legislative initiatives favoring equal rights for gays and lesbians either:

bulletallowed gays and lesbians to marry, or
bulletcreated a new form of government-recognized partnership for gays and lesbians -- commonly called civil unions or domestic partnerships.

These arrangements granted same-sex couples some or all of the same rights and privileges that states had previously reserved as special rights only for opposite-sex married couples. They differ from state to state, but often total about three to four hundred rights.

Religious and social conservatives reacted with horror to these developments, and regarded them as an attack on traditional marriage -- that is marriage reserved as a special privilege for opposite-sex couples. This triggered a series of state "Defense of Marriage Acts" or DOMAs to prevent marriage equality and equal rights for same-sex couples from spreading. In addition, a federal DOMA law was passed to prevent same-sex couples from obtaining the approximately 1,100 federal benefits that opposite-sex married couples routinely receive.

On 2009-SEP-15, Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Jared Polis (D-CO), John Conyers (D-MI), John Lewis (D-GA.), Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) and Barbara Lee (D-CA), filed a bill in the U.S. House titled the Respect for Marriage Act. It initially has 91 co-sponsors, and would repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act. If signed into law, it would allow all loving committed married couples in the U.S. access to the same 1,100 or so federal programs -- whether they be of the opposite-sex or same-sex.

Topics covered in this section:

bulletState DOMA laws
 
bulletHow effective are DOMA laws and constitutional amendments?
 
bulletThe Nebraska DOMA law temporarily declared unconstitutional
 
bulletSpeech in opposition to the Iowa DOMA law (over 12 years old but still an accurate reflection of the marriage equality side of the debate)
 
bulletA state marriage amendment in Kansas
 
bulletThe federal DOMA law:
bulletPassage of the law during 1996
 
bulletAttempts to have the federal DOMA law declared unconstitutional
 
bulletAttempt to repeal the law
 
bullet"Federal Marriage Amendment" (FMA)

Site navigation:

Home > Religious info. > Basic > Marriage > SSM > SSM Sub-menu > here

Home > "Hot" topics > Homosexuality > SSM > SSM Sub-menu > here

Copyright © 1995 to 2009 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 1995-SEP-11
Latest update: 2009-SEP-15
Author: B.A. Robinson

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